


Rhythm of the Heart

by dj_kally654



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, hospital au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-01-06 15:43:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dj_kally654/pseuds/dj_kally654
Summary: Michelle is tired of being treated differently, she’s tired of not being able to just be free. Peter sees the girl behind the disease.





	1. Fever Dreams

The rhythmic beating of the heart monitor calmed Michelle’s nerves. She was breathing, even with her fever and swelling organs, she was still breathing and staying alive. These hospital visits always put her family on edge, they knew each trip could be her last.

“MJ, you doing ok?”

“Dad I’m fine, the fever is pretty low, so I should be ok.”

The truth being that Michelle’s fever was at a 102˚F, which wasn’t good nor was it bad, she’s had worse. The bigger problem was that her organs were still swelling, her fever wasn’t helping either. As long as she’s here there’s no telling if she can survive this trip, but her family knew that as she gets older the disease will only get worse.

“Dad, you need to go home, I’ll be fine this hospital is very high class.”

“I suppose I can go home and do some work, but you’ll mother will want to see you tomorrow so don’t sleep in.”

“I know, don’t worry May does a great job of taking care of me and the other patients. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

After her father left she immediately got up and decided to text her two best friends Liz and Betty, she might as well catch up on what’s happening at school.

MJ: Did anything happen while I was gone?

Liz: Hospital again?

Betty: Ned and I are together

MJ: Again? How many times have you broken up? Yeah 102°F fever, not too bad.

Liz: Want me to stop by later? I can bring your work, and some food

Betty: Haha it hasn’t been that many times

MJ: Yes to the food, no to the work. You sure Betty?

Betty: I’m sure

After signing off Michelle heard one of the nurses walk in the door, this time it was May. Michelle had been under May’s care all her life, every single hospital visit May has been right by her side. May had brought in an IV and a med cart, Michelle had been here so many times that she knew her medication schedule by heart, but the meds would only help with the fever, not the swelling. She knew as well as her family that if her fever didn’t break soon, she could die. The problem was the medicine that can slow down the swelling of her organs doesn’t really work as well during fevers, Michelle needed the fever to break, it had to break, right?

“Michelle you didn’t have to fake sick to come see me at the hospital.” May said breaking Michelle’s train of thought.

“Who said I’m faking? The 102˚F fever should count for something.”

“We both know you can’t act for your life, and even if you could I don’t think you would fake sick just to see me.”

“Haha, very funny, and for your information I can act when I want to. This is just not a worthy cause for my efforts.”

May ended up laughing at Michelle’s statement, Michelle was glad, May hadn’t laughed in awhile it was good to hear her laugh. The two of them started talking more and as usual the topic turned to Michelle’s health. Michelle knew this speech by heart, she had to be careful about getting sick, remember to take her medication, stay home during the flu season, and the list goes on. The sad part was that she knew along with everyone else that there is no cure, that all they could do is wait around and hope for the best. She knew that the doctors were trying their best, that it was only a matter of time before her organs decided to give up, that this disease was beyond her control.

“Oh I forgot to tell you, Harry is back. He’s in room 213, and wait awhile before you meet up, he seems tired.”

“Thanks May, I’ll make sure to stop by.”

Harry was one of Michelle’s best friends, they have known each other since the dawn of time. Although Harry didn’t have the same disease as Michelle, they still understood each other and they supported each other no matter what.

MJ: Back already? What happened this time?

Harry: You make it sound like I got into trouble and I just got grounded

MJ: Shall I bring up the Nerf gun war you started?

Harry: Please don’t, we agreed to never speak of that ever again

MJ: You agreed, I never did

Harry: ....

MJ: So Prince Harry what is happening in the kingdom?

Harry: Nothing much, just here for a tuneup

Harry: Wait, did you just call me Prince Harry? When has this been a thing?

MJ: GTG Liz is here with food

Harry: Of course food comes before your best friend

Liz was by far Michelle’s best friend, everyone in Queens knew this. The two girls were practically attached at the hip, if you saw one of them you would most likely see the other. Liz was the more outgoing one of the two, she always knew how to make a person smile. Michelle on the other hand was very closed off and had a dry sense of humor with the occasional sarcastic remark. The two seemed like polar opposites but somehow fit together perfectly.

“So.... I hear you’re going to the dance with Peter”

“I said yes, but I don’t actually like him like that.”

“Yeah, because you have a crush on Spider-Man!”

“I do not, plus I’m not the one constantly texting a guy.”

“Harry and I don’t talk that much, plus we’re just friends.”

For the next couple of hours the girls talked and talked ate some food and then talked some more. At around eight Liz had to go since it was a school night, so here Michelle was sitting in her room all alone. She decided instead of moping around she would meet up with Harry in the new REC room. There they could catch up and play some games, maybe she could also get some new notebooks and pencils there too.

MJ: REC room in 10?

Harry: Sure

Michelle got up and put her face mask on and set off to the REC room. Michelle got to the REC room relatively fast, and as soon as she walked in she knew Harry was already there. He was by the pool table with everything already set up.

“Whose turn?”

As soon as she said that Harry turned around and smiled, it was so familiar that she couldn’t help but smile back. He immediately tossed her a pool cue and stepped back, Michelle made the first shot and made it. Michelle knew why Harry chose pool, pool meant that he was really sick or that he wanted to have a deep conversation. Each game in the room meant something different, like Uno meant that one of them was going to leave the hospital, it was always a game of laughter and celebration, at least one of them was going home healthy.

“I’m getting a lung transplant tomorrow.”

“Harry that’s great! You don’t seem excited, what’s wrong?”

“How are your organs?”

“Not failing, but seriously what’s bothering you?”

“It seems like whenever one of us is doing super well the other just gets worse, I’m just worried about you M.”

“Harry, the only things that matters right now is that you’re getting more time and my organs aren’t failing.”

“Not yet”

“Geez Harry you’re making it sound like my organs are on the brink of collapse.”

“MJ you’re wearing a face mask, you only wear one when the fever is bad and your organs are swelling more”

Harry had a point, Michelle rarely wore a face mask, they were only for tough times. Michelle laid down her pool cue and got out Uno and sat down at a table. Harry followed her and they began to play in silence. It went on like this until Michelle beat him, she then got up and began to walk away.

“Harry I’m going to be fine, you just worry about making sure you stay healthy for your lung transplant tomorrow.”


	2. Rooftops and Realizations

Michelle was walking back to her room, it was late, and only a couple of doctors and nurses were still there. She decided to walk up to the roof to look at the view, it always cleared her mind, as she was ascending the stairs she started thinking. She started thinking about the transplant, how this would definitely change Harry’s life, how much more time it would give him. Then she started thinking about how much time she had left, it was apparent that this fever did not want to go away, her body could only last a day or two more. Once she finally got to the roof she sat down on the ledge and sighed, at least she has the view she thought.

“Isn’t it a little dangerous up here?” she heard a voice call

“Not if you’re careful.” she responded back

Michelle turned her head around curios to see who the mystery person was. She thought at first that she recognized the voice, it seemed familiar, almost like she knew this person. Once she turned around she finally understood why she recognized the voice, it belonged to her brother. The brother that she thought was long gone at college studying to be a lawyer like their mother, but no here he was, on the rooftop looking straight back at her.

“Well we all know about how careful the great Michelle Jones is.”

“At least I’m not as clumsy as you, I remember you used to trip over your own feet.”

“Fun times”

“Sure were, its been a long time Ryan. How’s law school?”

“It’s fine, it’s late, you should get back to your room and go to bed.”

“I think I will, goodnight Ryan.”

Michelle got up and jumped off the ledge, she noticed Ryan was watching carefully making sure she didn’t get hurt. Michelle knew why, she knew that every single person did this around her, it wasn’t their fault, they were just worried about her. It didn’t matter though, Michelle was so used to the looks people gave her, they looked at her like she was the most fragile thing on Earth, it was the look of pity. Pity was something that Michelle hated, all her life people just pitied her, and it made no sense. Though there was a select few people who didn’t, but deep down Michelle knew there was some sort of pity towards her. Michelle was walking towards her room when she knocked into someone, she looked up into a familiar set of eyes, belonging to the infamous Peter Parker.

“You ok? You should watch where you’re going.” he asked

“I’m fine, but you should work on not stopping in the middle of a hallway.”

Peter looked stunned at what she said, people normally wouldn’t expect her to say that, but if anything Michelle sure wasn’t subtle. It was a common misconception, she had the appearance of a generally quiet person, but on the inside was a raging fire of opinions and arguments. Michelle unfazed by Peter’s surprised face just walked on past him towards her room. Before Peter even realized she left she turned the corner and just left him fazed by her sarcastic (and maybe a little rude) comment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a little short but I promise to update more later this week. Thanks for reading comment if you’d like and I will respond when I can  
> -DJ Kally


	3. Screenings of Truth

She could tell he was a little shocked, they didn’t really talk but when they did she was always polite. But here in the hospital was different in school, at school she was mostly ignored no one really took notice of her, her teachers also didn’t care if she got a bad grade because they knew she had other things to worry about. Here at the hospital Michelle was full of sarcastic responses and smart quips, in fact she got most of the nurses to laugh. The thing though was that Michelle kind of felt obligated to act this way, after all she was in a hospital, and it really wasn’t the place to be thinking dark thoughts. She stepped into her room and immediately hopped onto her bead, she accidentally fell on her stomach and an immediate jolt of pain followed. She shook it off and decided to actually follow her brother’s advice and get some rest.   
Michelle woke up at around 7:30, the sun was peeking through her window, she groaned, early morning sunlight was not a friend of hers. She got up and went to her little desk area to check her med schedule, she had a screening to check on her organs after breakfast. Michelle got up and got her computer to see if Liz or Betty was online, nope no one was awake. Just as she closed her laptop a nurse came in with a breakfast smoothie, her stomach couldn’t handle solids yet, according to her doctor. As she sipped the smoothie in peace her mother barged into her room.  
“Michelle, aren’t you going to welcome your own mother into your room?”  
“Hi mom, I didn’t see your texts and I just got my breakfast.”  
“Is this what they’re feeding you? I swear we pay all these hospital fees and your breakfast is a smoothie?”  
“The doctor says my stomach is swollen so it would be better if I just eat soft foods or drink smoothies.”  
“Ah, how’s school?”  
“It’s good, I made honor roll, the academic decathlon team I’m also on won nationals too.”  
“Just keep your eyes on the prize, pretty soon you’ll be joining Ryan at Harvard.”  
Michelle sighed, her mother put a lot of pressure on her keeping the family tradition of going to Harvard. In truth Michelle didn’t really care for Harvard, she actually really wanted to be an animator. Liz and Betty thought it was the perfect job for her, since she was always drawing. But Michelle knew that her mother would disapprove, and the last thing she needed was her mother disapproving her choices.   
After about an hour of talking Michelle made her way down to the screening room, it was so familiar to her, she had been here way too many times. She went into the room and Dr. Potts came in. Dr. Potts had been taking care of her for as long as Michelle could remember, Michelle knew she could trust her.  
“Hey Dr. Potts! Glad to see you back!”  
“Oh MJ I was only gone for two weeks, but let’s skip the small talk and see how your fever is.”  
The doctor whipped out a thermometer and immediately put it against her forehead, after it beeped her face looked a little concerned.   
“Hmm, well it’s not too bad, you’re at a 100.”  
“Oh”  
“Now let’s take a look at your organs.”  
Michelle lay down and the doctor stood up and got the screen to check on things. As the doctor as looking she started asking Michelle questions like if her abdomen hurt, stuff like that. The screening went on for a couple more minutes and it ended with the doctor saying that the swelling wasn’t too bad but she needed to watch the fever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here’s a new chapter hope you guys like it! Oh and I am working on a draft with a friend of mine so look out for that.  
> -DJ Kally


	4. AN

So this may seem a little weird but for now Rhythm of the Heart is going to postponed, currently this story just hit a block for me and I feel like that you, the reader, deserve a fresh pair of eyes. Another announcement I will be writing a new story so be expecting something new soon. On another note, lately things I’ve found myself thinking about not so happy things so I’m sorry that I haven’t been writing or updating but the personal break has been nice. From here I will try to keep a writing schedule, but I make no promises. Please comment on what you want me to try and write next, thank you for reading Rhythm of the Heart.

-K


End file.
